July Already!!

I know I have done a poor job at keeping up with the blog this summer. We haven't had all that exciting of a summer because it has been so hot here that it isn't any fun to even be outside.

June was actually pretty quiet this year. We attended a beautiful wedding for our friends Brian and Paige. It was a wedding to be remembered and we wish them much love and luck. We will miss them as they moved to Nebraska shortly after the wedding.

July has been slightly more eventful but not a lot. We spent the 4th of July in Belmond again this year which was fun and relaxing! Emerson used her swimming lessons to great use in the lake. Isaac is getting more comfortable in the water every time. Bruce got a lot of golf in which was good and we enjoyed the festivities downtown as always. We attended the Belmond parade again this year...and yes, Bruce managed to wiggle his way out of going again.  Dad found a way to make sure Bruce wasn't alone. We had a great time with Grandma, Grandpa, Buck & Gayle. Whitney had our traditional spot on the curb so we were in prime spot for candy grabbing! This year was so lucrative that we ended up giving the neighbor's grandkids half the stash and Emerson didn't even notice. The kids got some excellent Grandma & Papa time in with Mom & Dad

 Grandma and Emerson making No Egg sugar cookies for Isaac

 Isaac's favorite spot on the boat... Navigator!

Roasting Marshmallows for smores!

This weekend I co-hosted a baby shower for Angela Wondra our great friends and neighbors that will have a baby in August. It was a mini Claflin/K-State reunion! We had a great time! We are officially out numbered by kids but they all got along great. The guys went golfing during the shower. The kids played together very well at the shower while the ladies enjoyed the baby stuff. Later in the afternoon we hooked up the slip and slide and the sprinkler so the kids could enjoy the water outside. Normally the Slip and Slide would make Bruce cringe since it hurts his grass but since its already dead/dormant it didn't matter and he even took a turn himself! We ended up the perfect day with a BBQ at the Wondra's. It was actually nice enough to sit and play outside and there weren't many bugs. I don't have pictures to post but imagine the backyard completely overrun by children...gone are the days of just carrying in a case of beer...now its diaperbags, pj's, sippy cups, and toys. The beer is still there- but it has to share space with waterbottles and milk now :)!

Now about the kids--
Emerson is getting pretty smart! She still loves her books and dolls. She goes to preschool this month which will be very exciting! She will impress you with her fluent dutch speaking abilities. However, she doesn't really speak it at home - only around Opa and Tante...we figured it out that since we can't speak it back to her she sees no point in trying...yep, we are slackers...only one language people. She is really getting good at her math and letters now. We have a math game that she absolutely adores. We write down her Emersonisms-- which is our fun way of tracking the funny stuff she says...
Last nights:
Emerson "Mom, where is the Statute of Liberty"
Me: "In New York"
Emerson: "No its NOT mom....Its in the New York Harbor"
Me: "Oh my mistake...."

Isaac is all boy. He is growing up fast and he is speaking a lot more words everyday. He is still a bean pole in size but he can throw a ball with excellent overhand abilities! He is mischievious! He will do something just to make a loud noise or see if he can break it. This morning he did both. We were saying goodbye to some weekend guests and Issac decided he would stay in Em's room and play. From the garage I heard a loud bang...I ran thinking that he had fallen down the stairs or something bad....To my surpise I find the following in the entry way. A broken picture frame (glass in a million pieces), a doll chair, and some random shape pieces... The little chump had thrown it UP OVER the railing from her second story bedroom down onto the floor.  I look up at him, and he has a "Wasn't that awesome?!?" look and smile on his face. Although very angry, I had to be impressed by his abilities to throw it since the railing is at least 2-3 feet over his head. For 18 months, he can throw a ball pretty darn well. The Royals aren't calling yet but I would guess if their pitching continues on its current path he should be in the starting rotation next season! :) :)

Happy Mother's day!!

Happy Mother's day to all of you wonderful Mothers out there...and especially our own wonderful Mother, Mother in law, and our Grandmothers!

It has been a while since the last post and we have been up to A LOT. April was full! Easter weekend was spent in Kansas City this year. It was a bummer not being near family this year but we actually had a ton more fun than we thought we would! Emerson cleaned house at the Church Easter Egg hunt. She filled an Easter basket at the hunt, won a bunny cake in the cake walk, and won a stuffed bunny in the raffle!

Bruce and I again attended the Jimmy Buffett concert here in KC. It was a great time and we had a lot of fun with our friends again this year.  The entire group wasn't all together for this years concert but much fun was had nonetheless!

In late April we joined my old roomates Tanya Main and Sarah & Brice Towns for a family get together in Des Moines at the Ramada Indoor Waterpark. Tanya's husband Heath wasn't able to join us this time. The kids had an absolute blast together! It was great to see them and enjoy some time with them and their families.

Bruce's birthday was spent with a weekend of Golf and Boxing! My parents came down for the weekend. Bruce and Dad hit the links Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. Mom, the kids and I did some boutique shopping in Overland Park. Mom and Dad were willing to babysit for a couple of hours so we could celebrate an engagement party for our friends Brian and Paige's upcoming wedding. We ended the evening by ordering the Mayweather vs. Cotto Boxing fight on PPV which was well worth it and a great fight. The good guy lost but a good fight anyway. The highlight of the weekend besides Bruce's birthday was the new set of real-life golf clubs Papa and Grandma bought Emerson. She was hitting the plastic ones pretty good this spring so we'll see what she can do with a real set! Thanks Papa & Grandma!!

This Mother's day weekend has been spent low-key which is exactly what I asked for.  Bruce is going to grill me a steak tonight and I am going to enjoy my quiet weekend at home with the family. They all have taken very good care of me, as usual! The best Mother's day present ever....Isaac has FINALLY decided it is ok to drink out of a sippy cup. It has taken long enough but I think we are breaking the bottle dependence!! Actually, I am hiding the bottles so he can't find them and decides he still wants them :)

Here are some fun pics!

 Emerson at the Easter Egg Hunt. She ended up helping the little girl beside her too.

 What a sweetheart!

 Isaac celebrating his Easter stash!

Emerson and her Cinco De Mayo/Daddy's birthday dress

Alright, Papa- I am ready for the next round! I even have my collared shirt on!!!

Papa teaching Emerson how to hit

Connected! WHOO HOO!

The Sara's at Buffett :)

Buffett 2012! That's about the only time I can get Bruce to take a picture with me :)

The cutest kids at the Ramada! Emerson, Alexandria (Tanya's), Sophia (Sarah's), and Isaac

Busy Month

It's only March and already I have ruined my new year's resolution to update this blog more....good thing the future of the world doesn't ride on my resolutions or this blog!

Its been a very busy and emotional month for me. On February 27th Grandma Kehrt left this world for a better place. It was sudden and sad but I know she is in a better place. She had such an impact on my life that I thank her everyday for all the things she taught me. She was an amazing woman and I miss her every day. I am also so thankful that even though Emerson is very young, she was able to have such a great relationship with her great grandmother. She talked to Grandma on the phone regularly and would often sing her ABC's to grandma. Grandma was always so proud of Emerson and all of her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Isaac didn't get the chance that Emerson got but if given more time, I know he would have. I miss and love you Grandma.

Its been so busy this month but we have had some time for some fun. James and Janna Schremmer came into town this month for some shopping but joined us for an evening of fun. Emerson and their son Kaden have become such great friends. They always have so much fun playing together that I so wish the Schremmer's lived closer so we could have more of these fun times!

During this month's date night with the Wondra's and Ernsts, we had the kids join us for some fun and food at Dave and Busters. I love date night!! The kids get along so well and we have such great company with John, Heidi, Mike & Angela. We had a lot of fun watching the kids play games and the adults occasionally partaking in the fun. Joe and I played a very intense game of air hockey and Heidi and all the kids made a crowd laugh while they were all screaming in the jet simulator. It was a great time!!!

As I write this blog, I am home alone and I started the week thinking this would be awesome, I can work late, go to boxing whenever I want, and get a lot of stuff done around the house including reading a book- for leisure!! But the fact is I have worked late, gone to boxing whenever I want but have not had the chance to read that leisure book and I hate being home alone without my kids and husband. Bruce is traveling again this week and the kids are spending the week with Grandma and Papa Oberle in Claflin. I know that some of the most fun growing up was going to Illinois to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Kehrt, so I can only hope that Emerson and Isaac have the same wonderful memories of this time with their Grandparents. But I would be lying if I said I wasn't ready for them to come home. And as it turns out...there is enough work to do around the house to keep me away from that leisure book for another several weeks!

The jet simulator trip that everyone enjoyed!!

Carlie and Emerson playing video games!

Happy St. Patty's day- We take this picture for Grandma Kehrt every year. At least Isaac's smiled this time :)

I asked the kids to give me their best smile for this picture. Clearly Isaac likes pictures like his daddy... This is what we call "the scowl!"

I am the Champ!!!

Bruce has been traveling a lot lately so our weekends have been getting in some good family time. Last weekend Bruce and I did sneak off for a bit with some friends for monthly date night with The Wondra's & Ernsts to see a comedy show, which was a lot of fun!

This weekend the weather has been nice! Well, the entire winter has been really nice. Yesterday we hung out at home all day. We watched Iowa State win the family rivaly showdown with K- State in Basketball. Kstate got us in footbal but we prevailed in Basketball! Emerson remains a Cyclone and Isaac gets to be a wildcat (well until he can voice his own opinion:) Today we played outside and ran errands. Again, uneventfully Awesome!

Emerson & Daddy reading books - the girl can't read enough books!

Last night Emerson had to remind Daddy who runs this household... I joined a boxing gym last summer and I love it very much!!! It has done a lot for my physical fitness as well as my own personal sanity! Nothing de-stresses you like hitting something! The pics below are Emerson showing daddy who's boss! And Isaac just being cute.

Emerson giving daddy a hard left uppercut! (Daddy maybe flopping a little ;)

This was funny because she actually connected on this one! Good hook Em!

I AM THE CHAMP!

While Emerson is keeping them busy boxing....guess what I am doing hehehehe.....

Growing like weeds!

I am trying to get better about updating this blog :) So this post is my best effort at updating our lives....which has basically been uneventful!

Emerson and Isaac both had their respective 3 year and 1 year appointments this month. We were somewhat surprised at the results too...

Emerson is 3 feet 1 inch tall and in 47th % . She weighs 30.4 # which is the 41st %. That was surprising to us since she has always been on the lower % curves. This is good for her! I am hoping she will hold onto weight a little better than I can. Since she is built like me, I hope she doesn't end up with the constant struggle to keep her weight at normal BMI levels. Being thin is great, but there is a point where petite becomes too petite...you can spare me the load of BS on "oh god I wish I looked like you" Because its crap. You may wish to be thinner yes but everyone agrees there comes a point where thin does not look good. It has also always been amazing to me that people are and have so freely had the audacity to grab my arms/wrists and make rude and insensitive statements about my small size. It is just as unacceptable to call a person "fat" but people do it all the time. This is something I hope Emerson never has to deal with...particularly with the attention I see young girls put on weight and image. It would be scary if she bought into that concept with her build. Ok, done with my soapbox. She is growing so well and the Dr said she is doing great! She didn't have any immunizations this visit so she was pretty pumped about that. However, being the big sister, she was concerned about Isaac getting his.

Isaac is starting to get a lot more mobile and is standing up on his own. He needs to hold onto something but we are getting very close to him walking! We were equally surprise to hear that his is 20.2# which is only the 8th % and he is 29.3 inches long or in the 21st %. He has historically been above Emerson in these categories but has now fallen in line with where she was at. The way the kid eats, we would have thought he would have been closer to the 25-26# mark. He is likely taking a dip due to the increase movement and we anticipate he will be catching up to Emerson pretty quickly. He definitely has Bruce's build which is awesome. He is already starting to play with sports equipments so we anticipate he will gain the love of sports like both his parents have. He did have shots and wasn't thrilled about that. But in true Emerson fashion as soon as he was done, she walked over to him, said "Buddy it will be OK." and gave him a hug and kiss on the head. Pretty much melted the nurse's and our hearts.

Bruce gets to go for a Boy's night out weekend this weekend to Columbia. The kids and I are going to hang out at home since it seems like we are finally getting some winter cold. No snow to date. Emerson may have a play date with her daycare BFF this weekend too so that will prove to be fun for her!

Disney Princesses & Dump Trucks!

January's will be forever known as our month of rest and recovery. With 2 birthdays and a Christmas in December, January is a time for us to get back into a routine (if we ever actually have one :)

The last several years we have had the Kehrt family Christmas in January. That is our fault because kids have been born in December. This year we actually got to have Christmas in Clear Lake at Mom & Dad's house which was great. Everyone was able to make it, even Josh was home from Brazil and able to join us. We had a great time visiting with everyone. Isaac has a little excitement the days before that made the trip questionable at first but in the end a good idea for Bruce and Me. He caught the ugly rash/virus Hand, Foot, & Mouth which is a highly contagious virus that is relatively minor in nature. It is NOT hoof & mouth for you farmer folks :) . Most of the time this is no big deal and 50% of the people that get it don't even have symptoms. Isaac was not one of those people. He also got a bacterial infection on top of it which led to an entire body rash that made him look like a burn victim. It was horrible. He was up about 4 hours a night screaming due to the irritation of the rash and the sores in his throat, nose, and belly. After a couple trips back to the Dr we were able to get some medications and get him on the road to recovery. His Dr gave us the ok to travel to Clear Lake which turned out to be a great idea because Bruce and I got some rest with the help of the rest of the family. Emerson ended up getting it that weekend too which did elicit an episode of her screaming too. It took Me, Bruce, Grandma, and Papa's group effort to get her calmed down. But the fly on the wall was laughing his ass off watching a 3 year old order 4 grown adults around at 1:00 in the morning to find ANOTHER BOOK! Both of the kids made out like rock stars for Christmas this year. I think we offially have almost all the disney princess stuff accounted for as well as a host of Dump trucks for Isaac. Emerson even recieved a pink dump truck!

Isaac is back to full strength, he is pushing out the 2nd molar and starting to stand on his feet. He is fun to watch. He will be sitting in the middle of the floor and put his hands down and feet flat on the floor and stand up... it took him a while to decide to crawl but it looks like it will be soon and he will be running around the house.

Emerson is still the funniest kid I've ever met. She is so much fun and loves music. We have never been ones for listening to "traditional" kids music... so naturally she has grown to like our "fun music" as we call it. Her favorite band is still the Foo Fighters and she can name you the band members. She is also a huge fan of Zac Brown Band and Jimmy Buffet (naturally!). She recently has gotten into some modern pop songs. She can be heard walking around the house on a normal basis singing "Girl look at that body. I work out!" and "I got the moooves like Jagger!" These are her own spontaneous outbursts and they are hilarious and fun!

Grandma & Papa Kehrt don't have a bathtub....so we improvise!

Celebrating Isaac's birthday....a 3rd time

Below: Our little princess!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas to All!!! Its been a long time since our last post but here are the hightlights of December, with more to come!

Emerson turned 3 years old on December 6th. It is hard to believe that she is that old already!! We had the most fun at her birthday party!

Friday night we had the Oberle family Christmas in Claflin. It was great to see everyone and we got some great family time together. Short but fun!!! Both of the kids racked in a ton of cool stuff for Christmas and birthday's. The reason we exchange gifts was evident when Emerson opened her gifts this year. It was super cool to see her so excited. Grandma Ann- The tutu dress was a GREAT idea!!!

We got back to Overland Park in time for Church so we made the mad dash to get the kids ready and get to Mass. Isaac is generally an angel in church...he picked Christmas Eve as the one day to make church difficult. By difficult, we still got compliments on how good both of them were in church so I guess it couldn't have been that bad!

Last night we set out the cookies and "juice" (propel water) for Santa and carrots for Rudolf and the reindeer. Emerson thought Santa would prefer juice over milk. This morning the kids had their way with the toys and we now need to add on another wing to the house for all it! Isaac and Emerson were thrilled with their gifts. Isaac thought his Thomas the train was pretty awesome.

Its hard to believe that Emerson is 3 but its equally hard to believe that Isaac will turn 1 next week!! The time is going fast and he is growing big and smart! He is so much fun and we couldn't imagine our lives without either one of them. They certainly made this Christmas amazing. Isaac will get to enjoy 3 first birthday parties this year since his birthday is so close to Christmas. The first was at Oberle Christmas where he had a cake. He wasn't sure about that but I am sure that by the time he gets to the 3rd party at the Kehrt family Christmas, he will have it Mastered. His actual birthday may be far less excitements for him since it will just be the 4 of us.